IBM, Toshiba and Sony extend Cell alliance

IBM, Sony and Toshiba might seem like strange bedfellows, especially considering that Sony and Toshiba are on opposite sides of the forefront on the battle for the next DVD format. They have, however, been working together on the development and improvement of the Cell processor. Yesterday they agreed to extend their alliance for five more years.

Under the alliance the companies have developed the Cell processor which will most prominently be shown off in the PlayStation 3 later this year. The future of the alliance will be focused on improving the technology, looking to ultimately achieve a 32nm process. To this point the Cell technology has achieved both 90nm and 65nm. A 32nm process will increase the component density per wafer, allowing the chips to include more components or to be cheaper to produce.

The original Cell processor was released in February of last year. Sony, for one, has boldly proclaimed that their processor is at least as good as a Pentium.